For Moir and his partner Tessa Virtue, the journey to the Sochi Olympics next month is not just about defending their Olympic gold, it’s also a mission to help the youngest members of the Sochi-bound team by providing leadership and advice. Of the 17 skaters named to the Canadian team, only Virtue, Moir and Patrick Chan, the three-time world men’s singles champion, have competed at an Olympics before.

“It’s more of what to expect,” said Moir when asked what advice he gives to the younger skaters. “There’s a mystery around the Games that a lot of the people don’t understand. We’ve relied on past Olympians, Marnie McBean and David Pelletier and other great Canadian Olympians, for advice (in the past). You know ... where you eat, how not to get wrapped up in the excitement of the Games but make sure you enjoy the experience ... some of the lessons that we’ll want to share. These are our friends and our Canadian family members, so if we can help in any way, we will.”

“That has to be a little bit of our role, and it’s something that we take very seriously,” added Virtue. “We do have some experiences that some of the other team members maybe don’t have.”

RUSSIAN TOUCH

Perhaps it’s just a coincidence, but it’s also interesting to note that Canada’s two best chances for gold in figure skating — Chan and Virtue and Moir — are going with Russian-themed programs in Sochi. It won’t make any difference to the judging, but there’s nothing wrong with getting the crowd behind you when you compete. Chan is skating his short program to Elegy in E-Flat Minor by Sergei Rachmaninoff while defending ice dance champs Virtue and Moir will perform their free-dance program to a medley by a pair of Russian composers, Alexander Glazunov and Alexander Scriabin.

BRIGHT FUTURE

One of the big questions making the rounds at the national championships was: Who steps into the void for the Canadian team if Virtue and Moore, and Chan retire after Sochi? Skate Canada high performance director Michael Slipchuk said this weekend’s nationals showed that there is depth in all four disciplines. The biggest loss for the team, of course, would be in men’s singles, if Chan and Kevin Reynolds retired after Sochi. Both are 23, which isn’t young for skating. But Slipchuk was pleased to see 21-year-old North Vancouver skater Liam Firus have a big weekend to finish third and qualify for Sochi with a total score of 238.13 points. Firus was the 2010 Canadian junior champ, but had finished no higher than fifth at the senior level. He didn’t do a quad here, but he is a very smooth skater. As well, officials were excited about the performances in men’s singles by 15-year-old Toronto skater Nam Nguyen, who finished fifth with a score of 218.43, and Roman Sadovsky, a 14-year-old from Vaughan who was eighth (212.43). And, of course, there’s the two teenagers who qualified for Sochi in women’s singles — Kaetlyn Osmond, 18, who was eighth at last year’s worlds, and Daleman of Newmarket, who turns 16 on Monday.

“That was another positive for us to see. And more encouraging is what we’ve seen down at the junior-novice level (in the women),” said Slipchuk. “There’s just a lot coming up through there. What has been established by Kaetlyn two years ago, these girls have just picked up and they’re challenging her, and that’s what we want to see.

“All of (the Sochi-bound skaters) are competitive,” Slipchuk added. “We want them to be in that top 12-top 15 (in Sochi). We want to keep moving them forward, because you don’t know the future of our top guys and it’s going to be on the second and third people possibly moving forward to keep our spots at the world level.”

MOIR SUPPORTS CARLYLE

Moir, a native of Ilderton, Ont., may be a figure skater, but he’s got plenty of other sporting interests — including being a big Maple Leafs supporter. And like other Leafs fans, Moir is not thrilled with how the Buds have played lately (having lost four straight heading into Sunday night’s game against the New Jersey Devils). But he’s certainly not on the ‘Fire Randy Carlyle’ bandwagon.

“I feel bad for Randy. I’m a Carlyle guy,” said Moir. “What they need is their grinders back. And leadership. That’s really what you need and it takes time to build.”

Moir is also a big fan of injured Leafs forward David Bolland, who played his junior hockey in London, Moir’s birthplace. Growing up in Ilderton, which is about halfway between Toronto and Detroit, Moir said many of his friends were Red Wings fans. But he and his dad Joe are true-blue Leafs fanatics, though his mom Alma, he said, is a Montreal Canadiens fan. “She’s weird,” he joked.

For Moir and his partner Tessa Virtue, the journey to the Sochi Olympics next month is not just about defending their Olympic gold, it’s also a mission to help the youngest members of the Sochi-bound team by providing leadership and advice. Of the 17 skaters named to the Canadian team, only Virtue, Moir and Patrick Chan, the three-time world men’s singles champion, have competed at an Olympics before.